The effects of neighborhood size ("N")-the number of words differing from a target word by exactly 1 letter (i.e., "neighbors")-on word identification was assessed in 3 experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2, the frequency of the highest frequency neighbor was equated, and N had opposite effects in lexical decision and reading. In Experiment 1, a larger N facilitated lexical decision judgments, whereas in Experiment 2, a larger N had an inhibitory effect on reading sentences that contained the words of Experiment 1. Moreover, a significant inhibitory effect in Experiment 2 that was due to a larger N appeared on gaze duration on the target word, and there was no hint of facilitation on the measures of reading that tap the earliest processing of a word. In Experiment 3, the number of higher frequency neighbors was equated for the high-N and low-N words, and a larger N caused target words to be skipped significantly more and produced inhibitory effects later in reading, some of which were plausibly due to misidentification of the target word when skipped. Regression analyses indicated that, in reading, increasing the number of higher frequency neighbors had a clear inhibitory effect on word identification and that increasing the number of lower frequency neighbors may have a weak facilitative effect on word identification.The impressive speed of the visual recognition of words implies that the processes responsible for selecting the correct lexical entry from the thousands of words stored in the lexicon are highly efficient. In spite of the efficiency of this process, there is a growing body of data that indicates that the printed word does not directly find its entry in a mental lexicon. Instead, these data suggest that, after the presentation of a visual word, similarly spelled words (the so-called "neighbors") become partially activated and affect the speed of lexical access (e.g.,

A number of recent studies using eye movement data have yielded evidence suggesting that phonological codes are activated early in an eye fixation. However, experiments reported by M. Daneman and E. Reingold (1993; M. Daneman, E. M. Reingold, & M. Davidson, 1995) yielded data that led them to argue that phonological codes are primarily activated after lexical access has occurred. In this study, 3 experiments were carried out that were conceptually similar to those of M. Daneman and E. Reingold, and the resulting data supported the position that phonological codes are activated very early in an eye fixation.

We examined the initial landing position of the eyes in target words that were either predictable or unpredictable from the preceding sentence context. Although readers skipped over predictable words more than unpredictable words and spent less time on predictable words when they did fixate on them, there was no difference in the launch site of the saccade to the target word. Moreover, there was only a very small difference in the initial landing position on the target word as a function of predictability when the target words were fixated which is most parsimoniously explained by positing that a few programmed skips of the target word fell short of their intended target. These results suggest that low-level processing is primarily responsible for landing position effects in reading.

Eye movements were recorded in order to examine how different sources of information-namely, meaning dominance and strength of biasing context-influence the processing of biased ambiguous words. Gaze durations were longer on ambiguous target words when the preceding context instantiated the subordinate interpretation, even with strongly biasing contexts. Identical results were obtained with a self-paced reading study. Thus, contrary to recent findings (Kellas, Martin, Yehling, Herman, & Vu, 1995), the subordinate interpretation of a biased ambiguous word was not selectively accessed even when the preceding context strongly biased that interpretation. Discrepancies between the present experiments and the Kellas et al. experiment are discussed. 271A considerable amount of research has been devoted to examining how different sources ofconstraint influence the processing of lexically ambiguous words. From this research, it is clear that contextual information and relative meaning frequency both impact lexical ambiguity resolution (Binder & Morris, 1995;Dopkins, Morris, & Rayner, 1992;Duffy, Morris, & Rayner, 1988;Neill, 1989;Neill, Hilliard, & Cooper, 1988;Rayner, Pacht, & Duffy, 1994;Simpson, 1984). Exactly how these sources ofinformation combine to influence the resolution process has been a greatly debated question. At issue is whether the language processing system can be viewed as highly interactive (see, e.g., Marslen-Wilson, 1975) or modular in nature (Forster, 1979). Lexical ambiguity has proven to be a useful tool in understanding the nature of the language processing system in that activation ofonly the contextually appropriate meaning (selective access) provides evidence for an interactive view, while activation of both meanings (exhaustive access), in spite ofbiasing context, suggests a modular system.A number of recent eye movement studies have examined how lexically ambiguous words are processed (Binder & Morris, 1995;Dopkins et al., 1992;Duffy et al., 1988;Rayner & Duffy, 1986;Rayner & Frazier, 1989;Rayner et al., 1994;Sereno, 1995;Sereno, Pacht, & Rayner, 1992). In these studies, readers' eye movements were monitored as they read sentences or short paragraphs, and fixation This research was supported by Grant HD 17246 from the National Institutes of Health and was completed when K.S.B. was a postdoctoral fellow on Grant MH16745 from the National Institute of Mental Health. K.R. was supported by a Research Scientist Award (MHO 1255). We thank George Kellas and Charles Martin for providing the stimulus materials. We also thank Derek Besner, Curt Burgess, George Kellas, Randi Martin, Trammell Neill, and Hoang Vu for their comments on a prior version of this article. Correspondence should be addressed to K. Rayner, Department of Psychology, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003 (e-mail: rayner@psych.umass.edu).time on an ambiguous word or a control word (that was matched in length and frequency) was measured. A consistent pattern of results has emerged from these studies. When neutral context pr...

Two experiments addressed the issue of whether phonological codes are activated early in a fixation during reading using the fast-priming technique (S. C. Sereno & K. Rayner, 1992). Participants read sentences and, at the beginning of the initial fixation in a target location, a priming letter string was displayed, followed by the target word. Phonological priming was assessed by the difference in the gaze duration on the target word between when the prime was a homophone and when it was a control word equated with the homophone on orthographic similarity to the target. Both experiments demonstrated homophonic priming with prime durations of about 35 ms, but only for high-frequency word primes, indicating that lexicality was guiding the speed of the extraction of phonological codes early in a fixation. Evidence was also obtained for orthographic priming, and the data suggest that orthographic and phonological priming effects interact in a mutually facilitating manner.

S We examined the relations among phonological awareness, short‐term memory, orthographic ability, contextual information, and reading skill in a study of 60 functionally illiterate adults enrolled in Adult Basic Education programs. Using a multiple regression analysis, the results indicated that phonological awareness, orthographic ability, and context each accounted for a unique portion of the variance in reading skill. To compare the relative strengths and weaknesses of these adult readers to children, we tested 99 children and matched them to the adults on reading level. We then divided the adults and children into more and less skilled readers. Although the more skilled readers out‐performed the less skilled readers on most of the tasks, tasks that relied on general world knowledge or experience tended to favor the adult readers. Adults seem to be relying less on phonological decoding, which is an area of weakness for them, and more on remembering specific words and patterns, which is an area of relative strength. Examinamos las relaciones entre conciencia fonológica, memoria a corto plazo, habilidad ortográfica, información contextual y habilidad lectora mediante el estudio de 60 analfabetos funcionales adultos inscriptos en programas de educación básica de adultos. Los resultados de un análisis de regresión múltiple indicaron que la conciencia fonológica, la habilidad ortográfica y el contexto dieron cuenta, cada uno, de una porción única de la varianza en habilidad lectora. Para comparar fuerzas y debilidades relativas de los lectores adultos con respecto a los niños, evaluamos a 99 niños y los apareamos con los adultos por nivel de lectura. Luego dividimos a los adultos y niños en grupos de lectores de mayor y menor habilidad. Si bien los lectores de mayor habilidad se desempeñaron mejor que los de menor habilidad en la mayoría de las tareas, aquellas tareas que dependían de conocimiento del mundo o experiencia tendieron a favorecer a los adultos. Los adultos parecen depender menos de la decodificación fonológica, que es un área de debilidad para ellos y más de la memoria de palabras y patrones específicos, que es un área de fuerza relativa. Wir untersuchten die Relationen zwischen phonologischem Bewußtsein, Kurzzeitgedächtnis, orthografischer Fähigkeit, kontextualer Information, und der Lesekenntnis in einer Studie mit 60 funktionell illiteraten Erwachsenen bei dem Erlernen von Basisprogrammen für Erwachsene. Bei der Anwendung einer multiplen Regressionsanalyse zeigten die Ergebnisse auf, daß ein phonologisches Bewußtsein, die orthographische Leistung und der Kontext jeweils über einen eigenen Anteil in der Lesebefähigung gemäß der Abweichungerhebung verfügt. Um die relativen Stärken und Schwächen dieser erwachsenen Leser mit denen der Kinder zu vergleichen, prüften wir 99 Kinder und verglichen sie mit den Erwachsenen auf Leseeinstufung. Wir unterteilten dann die Erwachsenen und Kinder in mehr oder minder befähigte Leser. Erwachsene scheinen sich weniger auf phonologisches Entschlüsseln zu verla...

Eye movements were monitored as participants read passages that contained 2 occurrences of a balanced ambiguous word. In Experiment 1, local context was manipulated so that the meaning of the ambiguous word either remained the same or changed from the 1st to 2nd encounter. In Experiments 2 and 3. global context was manipulated by shifting the discourse topic between the 2 instances of the ambiguous word. Gaze durations on the 2nd instance of the ambiguous word were shorter when the meaning remained consistent than when the meaning changed, and this facilitation was impervious to changes in the discourse structure. In contrast, processing time in the region immediately following the target was longer when the word meaning changed, but only when the topic of the discourse remained the same throughout the passage. When the topic was shifted, this effect disappeared.

The effects of neighborhood size ("N")--the number of words differing from a target word by exactly 1 letter (i.e., "neighbors")--on word identification was assessed in 3 experiments. In Experiments 1 and 2, the frequency of the highest frequency neighbor was equated, and N had opposite effects in lexical decision and reading. In Experiment 1, a larger N facilitated lexical decision judgments, whereas in Experiment 2, a larger N had an inhibitory effect on reading sentences that contained the words of Experiment 1. Moreover, a significant inhibitory effect in Experiment 2 that was due to a larger N appeared on gaze duration on the target word, and there was no hint of facilitation on the measures of reading that tap the earliest processing of a word. In Experiment 3, the number of higher frequency neighbors was equated for the high-N and low-N words, and a larger N caused target words to be skipped significantly more and produced inhibitory effects later in reading, some of which were plausibly due to misidentification of the target word when skipped. Regression analyses indicated that, in reading, increasing the number of higher frequency neighbors had a clear inhibitory effect on word identification and that increasing the number of lower frequency neighbors may have a weak facilitative effect on word identification.